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Third Battle of Ialmenos
The Third Battle of Ialmenos, known by some as the Third and Last Circadian Offensive of Caliga, was a naval battle on the 22nd of October, in the year 2614, between warships of the Circadian Federation and ships of the United Worlds Stellar Navy. The battle took place in close orbit over the gas giant Ialmenos is the Caliga system. Despite the loss of four expensive ships, the United Worlds finalized the defense of the Caliga System, with the Circadian Federation never again attempting to invade the system. Background NSS ''Pont Saint-Louis'' Leading the charge and the flagship of the remaining Caligan Defense Fleet, the long outdated Collomest-class Large Cruiser, and the "Queen of the fleet", the NSS Pont Saint-Louis ''(CB-15), had just recently warded off the First and Second Circadian offenses on the Caliga System singlehandedly, and not having the time to repair the severe damage, the ship sailed to battle with the crew well aware of the likelihood of their failure to return. '''NSS ''Seere' Similar to the ''Pont Saint-Louis, the Minosa-class Escort Cruiser NSS Seere (CE-4) had just managed to escape the Soteria System after its initial fall to the Circadian Federation. Heavily damaged and with no working weapons save a handful of Anti-Fighter guns and a single Dual-Purpose Cannon, the Seere was commanded by a skeleton crew of 113 sailors, with the intent to be used as a exploding fire ship during the upcoming battle Battle Exiting hyper-leap, the Circadian cruisers were the first to arrive to distract the defending vessels from the following battleships and carriers. Immediately upon the arrival of the CFS Minotaur, the flagship of the invading force, it came under heavy fire from the NSS Pont Saint-Louis. With the two heaviest ships engaging fire, the Escort Cruisers NSS Minosa and Sandula engaged the Circadian Carriers, CFS Emeral Vice and Nirvodoman Vice. With the Minosa coming under heavy fire from the carrier's bomber squadrons, the Cruiser was quickly disarmed, with no guns working after the intense fighter fire. After the wrecking of the Minosa, the Sandula quickly fled the scene, still exchanging shots with the Emeral Vice as it went. A sudden heavy salvo from either the battleship CFS Medusa or Hydra, split the Sandula into two halves. At this time the Pont Saint-Louis had received crippling shots from the Minotaur, and faking a power failure, had allowed itself to fall into Ialmenos' atmosphere. At this time, it was ordered all remaining Escort Cruisers flee to the orbit of Astyoche, with the Seere following its sister ships. At this time, the Pont Saint-Louis taunted and mocked the commanders of the invading force, and seeing he was making very little progression with this tactic, Commodore Molf ordered to separate one of the Pont Saint-Louis' engines to be used as a giant rocket. Put to full blast, the separated engine rocketed out of Ialmenos' thick atmosphere with no warning, and impacted the Medusa midships, causing a massive explosion that incinerated a good chunk of the ship. Now convinced to finish off the crippled large cruiser while the 12 circadian cruisers pursued the escaping fleet, the Seere faked a power shutdown and was left adrift. Once the circadian cruiser force caught up to the Seere, the ship super-detonated and destroyed all the ships nearby, leaving the two farthest cruisers Fastidious and Venomous, badly damaged by the blast, but not utterly destroyed. With this, the fleeing cruiser force turned back and engaged the two lonely cruisers, both setting emergency routes out of the system and hyper-leaping away. The remaining Escort Cruisers set course back to Ialmenos to support the Pont Saint-Louis. Determined not to go down without fighting, the Large Cruiser fought the two battleships and carriers wildly, using all that it can manage, even using the ship's anchors at one point to destroy the forward hangar doors of the Emeral Vice. With the hangar doors now blown away, the Pont Saint-Louis ''fired a salvo of high explosive missiles into the central through-deck of the ''Emeral Vice, causing catastrophic internal failure, the Emeral Vice fell lifeless through the atmosphere, never rising from the depths of Ialmenos' clouds again. After the loss of the Emeral Vice, the Nirvodoman Vice attempted to flee the scene, with the Pont Saint-Louis making makeshift torpedoes and fired a heavy salvo at the carrier, and although all missed their target, one managed to strike the rear engine of the Hydra, and damaged it enough to lose power and burn up in the immediate drop through Ialmenos' atmosphere. From here, the Nirvodoman Vice successfully broke away only to be engaged by the four remaining escort carriers, and before it could scramble any fighters, a simultaneous broadside and missile salvo from the Escort Cruisers tore through the ship's decking, and finally four shots from Artemiz Launchers tore through the carrier, destroying the bridge and splintering the ship's life support. Meanwhile, the close-to-death NSS Pont Saint-Louis exchanged fire with the CFS Minotaur. Shortly before the Minotaur lost its "A" turret to fire, the Pont Saunt-Louis lost all major naval guns on board, and merely opened fire with all remaining anti-shuttle and anti-fighter guns, accomplishing little. Quick missile fire from the Minotaur blew the bow off the Pont Saint-Louis, and it the final gamble, the Large Cruiser set a collision course with the Battleship, allowing the ship to "cross the T" before engaging all engines and colliding with the Minotaur's aft gun magazine, with the Pont Saint-Louis' own forward gun magazine detonating at the same time, the explosion incinerated the entire Pont Saint-Louis, and the rear half of the Minotaur. It is unknown what happened to the Minotaur after this point, but it failed to exit Ialmenos' atmosphere and was declared wrecked by the four surviving escort cruisers.